Best Friends

Sometimes in this life we are blessed with best friends, I found mine when I was 12 years old, I had a crush on her cousin back then and had sent him a secret valentine, I guess a rumor got out that I had said bad things about him and his girlfriend (which I didn't) but ever the protector Julie had me pinned to the lockers saying you don't mess with her family...  Fast forward a couple of years, I had joined the same church as her and needed rides to the Wednesday night activities and the leader would go out of her way by 20 minutes and pick me up and take me and then take me home and Julie was close with this leader and so she'd often tag along, we started to get closer.  

Then terrible news came, my sister was killed I was 15, she was 16 and she made me Mississippi Mud Pie and took me to the movies to distract me from the awfulness of my life even if it was for a few hours.  We have been best friends ever since.  Even when her dad would scream, Julie you are talking long distance too much to Mandy and it's costing me a fortune, we still couldn't be kept apart.  We did ever thing together and even moved in together when we went to the University.  Although, we have had many a rough patch and stretches of time when we didn't talk either because we were mad or just plain busy, I've always known she'd be there for me.  But it always surprises me how much, for example.

When my parents were very sick, my dad had just passed away and my mom was down hill and I had to take her home from the hospital knowing that she was coming home to die and I was 7 months pregnant and never wanted to leave my moms side.  She took vacation from work and stayed and helped, we would go in shifts watching my mom so that she'd never be without someone beside her (which was a fear of hers to die alone) and so that I could rest.  What an awesome friend.  And after she passed away and the chaos got to be too much she took me to a movie and I felt like I was 15 again, escaping it all even for a brief reprieve.  

From that point years ago, I shouldn't have been surprised that she would be there for me when I truly needed her, like this past week.  I won't say what surgery I had, but I will say it was a rather painful recovery and her and her husband came down the day before, her husband watched the kids while she took me to the hospital, she was waiting after the procedure and took me home, her husband ever the sweet heart fixed all types of things I was not even concerned about, things that I thought can just wait until Josh gets home to be taken care of, but it was lovely that he did it.  He left the next day and Julie and her daughter stayed for the next 10 days to take care of me and my children and my house and my pets. She did laundry, cooked meals, make sure I rested and took my pills, watched out I didn't do too much, even getting made if I pushed myself, she made Clay's birthday wonderful which I was so sad that I couldn't be apart of because I was 3 days post surgery, she just stepped in and stepped up.  Ever the protector, Ever my best friend.  

I'm one lucky chic!

I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

Josh got to come home for 2 weeks at the beginning of May.  We were so very excited to see him, we made a huge poster and bought him all kinds of presents and waited.  and waited.   and waited... Josh's flights kept having delay after delay, it took him a lot longer to get home than we thought but once he was the wait was well worth it.  At the airport, we all got teary eyed when we were all reunited as a family, it was an emotional experience hard for me to put into written form.

The 2 weeks were filled quickly with family events, and fixing up the rental property and even a quick trip to Put in Bay just the two of us.  It was such a lovely time, I didn't want it to end, but it had to but now we wait again, this time not as long but long enough until September for Josh to come home forever.

 The sign the boys made for Josh, it says Welcome Home Dad!

 Josh starting a run to get to us!

 The Hughes' back together again

The 2 of us in Put in Bay, what a fun fun time

Josh's short trip

It was amazing to have Josh home even if it was for a short period of time. I can't imagine doing what he does, I have the boys and my friends and family. He has his soldiers and guns. I sleep in a comfortable bed for 8-9 hours a night. He is constantly on different missions and getting sometimes no sleep at all.

He is an outstanding man and what a great father. The boys absolutely adore him. I am glad he was able to come home even for a brief period of time. I will miss him this year and wait for him to hurry home to me.

When Josh came home from training for a week and a 1/2 we decided to do not much as far as going on vacation, seeing as we had been vacation like 3 times.... So for the first couple of day, we just hung out together and then 4 days before leaving, he decided to paint the outside of the house. Of course, we fought about the colors because we fight about everything that goes into the house, see here to read more about that.

I thought the colors were too dark and that it wouldn't look right. I... was... wrong...

And although we rushed to get the front and the back and it rained for a few days oh and I stained the front porch during this time as well...! It was not as difficult, like I thought it would be. All in all it turned out nice, and tons better than the eye sore we had before

Another year away

Josh left last Sunday, ironically on September 11th, for active duty in the Army. He's National Guard unit will be attached to a unit in Afganistan in a few months and he'll be there for a year. It's really hard having him go, he is such a help with the kids and frankly being a single mom sucks... but it's more than that... I will just miss him...

On Monday we went to a wonderful closing cermony, the speakers (and there were plenty) did outstanding jobs. Tanya (Josh's sister) and her kids came up too and after the ceremony we all went out to eat. It was a lot of fun sitting there laughing and talking.
And as I sat there and looked around trying to take my own mental photograph, a thought came to my mind, I was going to be OK this time. My kids are a little bigger, and that small difference will be huge. When Josh left for Iraq the kids were 2, 4, and 7 and now are 5, 7 and 10. That's a huge difference...


It won't make him being gone any less painful, but easier? Maybe, I don't know yet... I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Snow Trails

Josh decided to take a few days off of work for the Holidays, and we decided to take the boys somewhere fun. At first we thought of going to the indoor water park, but at the last minute we found Snow Trails. This place is AWESOME, they have skiing and snow tubing. We took the boys tubing with Tanya (Josh's sister) and her family.

The hill is 1100 feet, you take a ramp up to the top of the hill, with you tube, and slid all the way, either by yourself or holding onto each others tube (which makes your trip down even faster). It was SO, so, so much fun, and only about an hour away, so we will go back soon!